Museum of Art

Heart of the Arts at WSU

As others are pulling back from the arts, we recognize and seize the opportunity to build a new Museum of Art at Washington State University. Ours is the century of creativity, when every pursuit – from agriculture and engineering to global health and cultural studies – must be infused with innovative thinking.

Students involved in the arts have been seen to be more flexible in their approach to problem solving and more willing to take intellectual risks. Cultivating an appreciation of the arts has proven to lead to heightened creativity, tolerance and critical thinking – all traits that contribute to a better informed citizenry. The new museum will be perfectly suited to these results, a place of exploration across disciplines and cultures.

“Art urges people to step away from what they know and explore new concepts.” – Sara Janecke, former WSU student

Please consider a gift to support WSU’s Museum of Art priorities below:

Museum of Art Building Campaign Fund

For too long the museum’s single gallery has been tucked away inside the Fine Arts building. Now, we look forward to a stunning new facility in the heart of campus that will be open and accessible to everyone. With a welcoming entrance and five distinct galleries to display multiple exhibitions, including our 2,500 + permanent collection, the new museum will be the hub of creative engagement on Terrell Mall. Scheduled to open in 2017, you too can be a part of this exciting project!

“This new museum will reach out to every student on campus, every young person in the surrounding counties, every adult within hundreds of miles – providing activities that will enrich their hearts, minds and souls.” – Jordan Schnitzer, NW Business Leader and Philanthropist, major contributor to the new Museum of Art

Director’s Fund for Excellence

Art, like life, is constantly evolving. This fund was established to seize exceptional opportunities and to build opportunistic thinking and flexibility into annual exhibition and outreach programming. All our exhibitions, public programs and publications rely on private support. The Director’s Fund provides the ability to plan for future and to grab those special opportunities when they arrive and then leverage them for the future, such as the Roy Lichtenstein retrospective of 2005, which established our relationship with collector Jordan Schnitzer, and which eventually led to Mr. Schnitzer’s keystone gift to the new building fund in 2014. Or the Dine exhibition of 2004, which led to the amazing gift to the collection from Mr. Dine of 200 works of art from his personal archives in 2014. Having the fund available insures the museum’s ability to sustain world-class programming.

Buy-a-Bus Fund

Unlike their fellow K-12 students on the west side of the state, our kids do not have easy access to an art museum. We offer this program so they can experience art up close and personal. It’s simple: we pay for the bus for all K-12 age students within a 100 mile radius of WSU. They visit the Museum of Art and receive a guided tour of the exhibition and the art on campus. Oakesdale teacher Jason Reed has been bringing his students to the museum ever since the program started. Those first visitors are now out of high school, and have had the experience of museum-quality art and being in on a college campus as part of their lives. Thousands of students in our underserved region have had similar experience, but without the support from the Bus program, this would have been impossible. Help us keep it robust and thriving!